(MANNS HARBOR) - In response to a voluntary evacuation order from Hyde County, the North Carolina Department of Transportation's Ferry Division will begin round-the-clock service from Ocracoke to Hatteras Islands beginning at 2 p.m. today. Ferries will run their regular Hatteras Inlet schedules through midnight, and will then have a boat on standby to accommodate motorists wishing to leave between midnight and 5 a.m. Thursday. Regular service will then resume at 5 a.m. and continue until weather conditions make it unsafe to operate. Priority loading status is suspended for all departures from Ocracoke until the evacuation order is lifted.

The Ferry System is also adding an additional run between Ocracoke and Cedar Island for Wednesday, July 2, with a departure from Cedar Island at 8 p.m. and a departure from Ocracoke at 10:30. Ferry tolls on the Ocracoke-Cedar Island and Ocracoke-Swan Quarter runs will be waived for motorists departing Hatteras until the evacuation order is lifted, and all current reservations will be honored.

At the current time, all North Carolina Ferry Routes are running their published schedules. However, The Ferry Division expects brief service interruptions as Tropical Storm Arthur proceeds up the North Carolina Coast, starting Thursday afternoon on the southern routes and lasting into the afternoon Friday on the most northern routes.